Iris Ophelia's ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style
The road is cold, bleak, and lonely. It would be even lonelier without the old hound--a bundle of angular bones wrapped up in a pelt (and a battered straw hat for character)--that occupies the passenger seat of your delivery truck. Either you don't like music, or the radio is in less-than-optimal condition; you hear nothing but the washed out rumble of the truck's engine drowning out the whisper of rubber tires pulling against the surface of the road. That is until you pass by the local church. Window rolled down just an inch to let in a bracing breeze to keep you alert, you may hear the low-fidelity hiss of devotional music playing on repeat. You should have unplugged that tape-player when you were here last.
You are lost, at the mercy of charming locals and their less charming neighbours, looking for a highway that may or may not exist: The titular Kentucky Route Zero...
You'll have to forgive my flourish of a lead-in, but Act 1 of Cardboard Computers' Kentucky Route Zero is a game so loaded with atmosphere that it feels like it's soaked through your pores after you've played it. The feeling in this game is so much more intense than the doing at times that it's a little difficult to describe. But I'm sure as hell going to try.
I should say up front that this is obviously not the kind of game that will have you wielding two machine guns, mowing through hordes of foes like death incarnate. When you play you are treated to long, beautiful shots as the world shifts around you, full of curiosities and details half-buried but easily spotted if you're paying attention. Every piece of the environment seems measured out, designed keep you and the apparent protagonist progressing at an almost lugubrious pace. This game isn't slow, but it is very deliberate.
The stronger your desire to explore is, the more of the game you'll see. Some places are fully and beautifully illustrated, packed with interactions that will seem very familiar to anyone with a little adventure game experience under their belt. Other areas offer you deceptively simple text-based interaction.
I say it's deceptive, because those interactions often present as choices... But they aren't necessarily choices at all. Each answer seems there as much to give you a hand in how your character reacts as to fill you in on what the hell is actually going on. And even so... You don't even really have a character. You follow one person for awhile, but soon enough you've found another, and you seem to be playing the role of a supernatural arbiter of their conversations more than you're playing as either one in particular.
It's also a world dominated by light and darkness, not just in the art style but in the game mechanics as well. It's visually stunning and an utterly haunting experience to play as a result, so I'm interested in seeing where that theme goes in future acts. This is another thing that is a bit hard to describe, but if you're curious you may want to check out the game's demo, Limits & Demonstrations, to get a better feel for what I'm talking about. While the demo isn't exactly a slice of the game in the traditional sense of what you would expect a demo to be, it's a good way to get your feet wet and decide if the style, the pace, and that feeling interest you.
Kentucky Route Zero is broken up into several acts (like episodes) that will be released over the coming months, but buying a season pass secures you each coming episode in addition to Act 1. You can pick it up on Steam (for Windows, OS X, and Linux) on sale right now for 25% off as part of Steam's Spring Indie Sale, but that sale ends on the 29th so if you're interested in trying this offbeat adventure for yourself you might want to avoid taking the scenic route to the checkout.
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TweetIris Ophelia (@bleatingheart, Janine Hawkins IRL) has been featured in the New York Times and has spoken about SL-based design at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan and with pop culture/fashion maven Johanna Blakley.
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